John Andrew Holden (22 October 1948 – 4 January 2014) was an English long-distance runner whose athletic career peaked in the 1970s.
[2] Holden was raised in the Lancashire town of Leyland, and represented Preston Harriers as a junior,[3] typically in cross country.
While at university, he won the junior title in the 1969 English Cross Country Championships, beating future world 10,000 m record holder Dave Bedford.
[14] As the season drew to a close, Holden faced Kip Keino, the 3000 m world record holder, in a 3000 m race at an indoor meeting.
[19] At the close of the outdoor track season, at the same meeting he had tussled with Bedford the previous year, Holden set a British record for the 3000 m steeplechase.
After he qualified as a dentist, Holden settled in the West Midlands, and practised dentistry full-time alongside his athletic activities.
[21] In later years, Holden focused on the marathon; his personal best at the distance was 2:15:17,[3] a performance that gave him third place in the 1980 AAA championship.
An unusual mishap denied him victory in the 1986 Belfast Marathon, after the lead car twice took a wrong turn, at 7 and 22 miles.